Pilgrims yesterday performed the last major ritual of the hajj, the “stoning of the devil,” in western Saudi Arabia, as Muslims the world over celebrated the Eid al-Adha holiday.
Beginning at dawn, the 1.8 million Muslims undertaking the pilgrimage this year threw seven stones at each of three concrete walls symbolizing the devil in the Mina valley, outside Mecca, the holiest city in Islam.
The ritual commemorates Abraham’s stoning of the devil at the three spots where it is said Satan tried to dissuade him from obeying God’s order to sacrifice his son.
Photo: AFP
The stoning ritual has been witness to multiple stampedes over the years, most recently in 2015 when up to 2,300 worshipers were killed in the worst hajj disaster.
The site has been revamped since then to streamline the movement of the large crowds.
Roads leading to the concrete walls were nevertheless packed early yesterday, with some pilgrims visibly struggling under the morning sun.
Some sat on the side of the road to rest and drink water, while others stretched out on the ground, apparently exhausted.
On Saturday, temperatures reached 46°C in Arafat, where pilgrims performed hours of outdoor prayers.
One treatment center in the area recorded 225 cases of heat stress and fatigue, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.
However, that figure was not comprehensive.
Last year, more than 10,000 cases of heat-related illnesses were documented during the hajj, 10 percent of which were heat stroke, a Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health spokesman said.
“It was very, very hot,” Rohy Daiseca, a 60-year-old Gambian living in the US, said on Saturday night as pilgrims collected stones to throw. “Alhamdulillah [praise be to God], I put a lot of water on my head and it was OK.”
Worshipers have tried to take the grueling conditions in stride, seizing what for many is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to pray at Islam’s holiest shrines.
“I am so happy that I can’t describe my feelings,” said Amal Mahrouss, a 55-year-old woman from Egypt. “This place shows us that we are all equal, that there are no differences between Muslims around the world.”
One of the five pillars of Islam, the hajj must be performed at least once by all Muslims with the means.
ROCKY RELATIONS: The figures on residents come as Chinese tourist numbers drop following Beijing’s warnings to avoid traveling to Japan The number of Chinese residents in Japan has continued to rise, even as ties between the two countries have become increasingly fractious, data released on Friday showed. As of the end of December last year, the number of Chinese residents had increased by 6.5 percent from the previous year to 930,428. Chinese people accounted for 22.6 percent of all foreign residents in Japan, making them by far the largest group, Japanese Ministry of Justice data showed. Beijing has criticized Tokyo in increasingly strident terms since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year suggested that a military conflict around Taiwan could
A pro-Iran hacking group claimed to breach FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal e-mail inbox and posted some of the contents online. The e-mails provided by the hacking group include travel details, correspondence with leasing agents in Washington and global entry, and loyalty account numbers. The e-mail address the hackers claim to have compromised has been previously tied to Patel’s personal details, and the leaked e-mails contain photos of Patel and others, in addition to correspondence with family members and colleagues. “The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information,” the agency said in a statement on
RIVALRY: ‘We know that these are merely symbolic investigations initiated by China, which is in fact the world’s most profligate disrupter of supply chains,’ a US official said China has started a pair of investigations into US trade practices, retaliating against similar probes by US President Donald Trump’s administration as the superpowers stake out positions before an expected presidential summit in May. The move, announced by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Friday, is a direct mirror of steps Trump took to revive his tariff agenda after the US Supreme Court last month struck down some of his duties. “China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to these actions,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement, referring to the so-called Section 301 investigations initiated on March 11.
When a hiker fell from a 55m waterfall in wild New Zealand bush, rescuers were forced to evacuate the badly hurt woman without her dog, which could not be found. After strangers raised thousands of dollars for a search, border collie Molly was flown to safety by a helicopter pilot who was determined to reunite the pet and the owner. A week earlier, an emergency rescue helicopter found the woman with bruises and lacerations after a fall at a rocky spot at the waterfall on the South Island’s West Coast. She was airlifted on March 24, but they were forced to
RSS